May 13—BATESVILLE — Mayor Mike Bettice swore in Jacob Speckman as the newest full-time addition to the Batesville Fire Department between the Board of Works and City Council meetings earlier this week.

Speckman will serve as a firefighter/EMT-B.

A Batesville native, Speckman is a 2017 graduate of Batesville High School.

His association with the department dates back to 2018.

"He [Jacob] started as a volunteer and then decided that he wanted to become a full-time firefighter," said Batesville Fire Chief Todd Schutte. "He went through the process and was successful in accomplishing that and here we are today."

Speckman was joined by his wife Madison, children Huxley and Halston, brother-in-law and parents.

He comes from a long line of public safety workers. His father was a sheriff's deputy as well as a firefighter, his grandfather served on the Batesville Fire Department in the '60s and '70s, his great-grandmother retired from the police department as a dispatcher, and his great-grandfather was a police officer.

Contact Josie Clark at josie.clark@greensburgdailynews.com or 812-651-0873.